You are here

Offbeat

Charlie Chaplin hat and cane net more than $ 62,000/charlie-chaplin-hat-and-cane-net-more-62000

Charlie Chaplin hat and cane net more than $ 62,000

Associated Press|Published — Tuesday 20 November 2012

LOS ANGELES: Charlie Chaplin’s iconic bowler hat and cane were auctioned off for $ 62,500 this weekend, as part of an auction. The hat and cane, trademark of Chaplin’s Little Tramp character, were in “remarkable condition” and had been estimated to go for between $ 40,000 and $ 60,000 at the sale by auction house Bonhams on Sunday. But when it went under the hammer, the sale price hit $ 62,500 the auctioneers said. Legend has it that Chaplin came up with the tramp persona and wardrobe spontaneously one rainy afternoon in February 1914, seizing various wardrobe items in a communal male dressing room at a Hollywood studio. These included baggy trousers from actor Fatty Arbuckle, size 14 shoes which he had to wear on the wrong feet to keep them from falling off, the hat belonging to Arbuckle’s father-in-law, and a mustache intended for another actor. The 32-inch (81-centimeter) bamboo cane is inscribed “CCLT 36” in black ink, a reference to the Little Tramp, Chaplin’s signature character.

LOS ANGELES: Charlie Chaplin’s iconic bowler hat and cane were auctioned off for $ 62,500 this weekend, as part of an auction. The hat and cane, trademark of Chaplin’s Little Tramp character, were in “remarkable condition” and had been estimated to go for between $ 40,000 and $ 60,000 at the sale by auction house Bonhams on Sunday. But when it went under the hammer, the sale price hit $ 62,500 the auctioneers said. Legend has it that Chaplin came up with the tramp persona and wardrobe spontaneously one rainy afternoon in February 1914, seizing various wardrobe items in a communal male dressing room at a Hollywood studio. These included baggy trousers from actor Fatty Arbuckle, size 14 shoes which he had to wear on the wrong feet to keep them from falling off, the hat belonging to Arbuckle’s father-in-law, and a mustache intended for another actor. The 32-inch (81-centimeter) bamboo cane is inscribed “CCLT 36” in black ink, a reference to the Little Tramp, Chaplin’s signature character.